Shy
by i regret being here and 12
Summary: All


**Shy  
>- The Joker<strong>

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><p><strong>Summary:<br>**I'm not socially acceptable, and the people that do don't know the truth about me...That's why I can't allow myself to get the woman who won't leave my mind involved. Or maybe I'm using that as an excuse because I'm actually shy...Naruhina.

**Rating:  
><strong>T.

**Words:  
><strong>1208

**Disclaimer:  
><strong>Me no own. Period.

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><p><strong>~ .:Prologue – The Gates to the OutIn-side World:. ~**

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><p>I'm being beaten again. This pain doesn't hurt though. What hurts is the feeling of exclusion and not being accepted for who I am and I have no idea why. Was it my abnormal blond hair <strong>(A.N: Sure there's Sakura with her pink hair but Naruto's appearance would come off as a "Chite" or "a white person pretending to be ChineseAsian")** and blue eyes? Was it the whiskers on my cheeks? Or the weird tattoo on my stomach that appears and reappears as it pleases? Was it because I had no parents? Why? Why?

After a while, I felt that no one was hitting me. I decided to lay there on the damp ground. Alone. Cold. I was too used to this to feel scared. I knew it would get worse. I would get infections from the cuts and still get beaten for reasons still unknown. No one would help me. All I have is No one.

Rain pelted down my cuts and the raindrops made their way down my back, leaving an icy cold trail down it. I got up slowly and walked around absentmindedly. Laughter filled my ears and warm tears ran down my face. They were laughing at me, The homeless boy.

The rain stopped over me but continued all around. I looked up to see a strange stick with some material on it. I then looked to the owner of the hand that held the stick. It was an old man wearing clothes of white. As soon as I saw him, I flinched as a reflex and waited for the sharp pain from his staff-like weapon.

None came.

"Hey, Naruto, come inside and warm up."

My ears perked at the sound of my name. I was never called my birth name. Just things like 'Monster' and 'Demon child'. I looked up to see that old man again, holding his hand out to me. I slowly start to reach out for it and held onto it with fear.

"H-How do you know my name?" I mumbled, asking him.

The man just smiled and led me to a small shop. I entered after him and was helped up onto one of the tall seats. I was asked to "kindly wait" and grew more scared than when I would be beaten close to death. Being treated so politely was new. It felt warming to have a caring smile flashed at me but it also scared me as I thought of the possibility that it would turn to an angry glare. A lady entered the area.

"Welco- Oh, it's you!" she gasped, "I'll go get some new clothes for you and a towel and- Oh dad! It's him!"

She giggled and squealed. The man chuckled and handed me a bowl of what looked like very long white worms in some orangey brown water with other weird things in it.

"Wh-What is this?" I asked, mumbling quietly. He seemed to have heard me because he answered, "It's ramen! Try some!" he grinned.

I decided to try some. I grabbed the sticks that people used to eat and tried to hold them properly. I dipped them into the 'ramen' and lifted it up. Nothing happened. I did it again and got a worm on it. I slowly put it in my mouth in slurped it up.

"This worm thing is tasty." I mumbled. The man laughed.

"That's not a worm!" he continued to laugh. I felt offended. "It's a noodle!"

"N-Noodle." I repeated. He nodded. He pointed to the orangey brown water.

"That's the broth." He pointed to all the things is this 'ramen' while I ate it and named them for me. He then named another thing that was white with little pink swirls.

"Naruto."

I blinked. I was eating myself? He laughed again at my cluelessness. I felt very embarrassed now.

"The Fourth used to eat here..." he said after his brief laugh. I looked at him weirdly.

"What's that got to do with me?" I asked, still mumbling. He put on a thoughtful look as he stared at me, or probably something in me.

"Oh nothing. He's just a great man. Well, was. He was even a Hokage!" he answered after a while.

"What's a Hokage?" I continued to question him. He went around the back and came back to sit next to me. He pointed to the stone heads that you could still make out in the rain.

"Those people were great respected ninjas. They protected us, and so did the Fourth. He died to save us all from the Nine-Tailed Fox." he said. I looked at the heads in awe.

"I...I want to be Hokage!" I said, determined to make my dream come true.

"Well then you better get cleaned up, don't you think, Mr. Hokage?" a new voice joined in. I jumped and hid behind the old man. It was the man's daughter. She smiled gently and held out her hand.

"I'm Ayame. Dad-over-there's name is Teuchi. Nice to meet you, Naruto." she introduced herself and 'Teuchi'. I reached out to the hand and clasped it. She shook it as a greeting and pulled some clothes from behind her back.

"There's a bath out back so you can go wash up and then get dressed. I have a surprise for you when you get out." she said.

I did what I was told and cleaned myself up. Bandages were in the room where I got changed and I put them on with difficulty. My ne clothes were comfy. It was a grey t-shirt with an orange vest that I zipped up and also some blue shorts. I pulled up the collar so the bottom half of my face was hidden. I felt nervous talking to these new kind people so if it looked like I couldn't talk, then I wouldn't have to, right?

I entered the front of the shop with the things I used neatly in a basket to return to them. My eyes widened and tears prickled at the edges of them. There I saw Ayame and Teuchi with a sweet bread I know is called 'cake'. Waxy sticks were on top of the cake and were lit on fire. There was orange writing on top. I looked from both of the smiling faces then to the cake.

"What does it say?" I asked through the material of the vest. Ayame walked up to me and reached to pull my collar down.

"We can't hear you properly with the collar up." she grinned. I felt myself go red in my cheeks and looked down.

"Wh-What does it say?" I repeated, stuttering instead of mumbling.

"It says 'Happy Birthday. Naruto'." Teuchi answered. I felt myself cry and tried to wipe away the tears but they wouldn't stop. I felt warm arms wrap around me and I cried into them.

"Shh. It's okay Naruto." Ayame comforted me, "You've been lonely for a long time now haven't you?" I nodded, sniffling. She released her embrace and I felt alone again. I looked at her and the old man. She grabbed a box from the table and opened it for me.

"These are goggles." she said, pointing to the contents of the box, "Until you become a great ninja and earn your headband, these will be your replacement. So work hard, 'kay?"

I grabbed the 'goggles' and put them on my head with Ayame's help. I gave a silent thanks to both of them as Ayame hugged me again. I cried in happiness and eventually fell asleep from exhaustion with a smile on my face.

I was accepted by these people. They were being nice to me. I felt warm and fuzzy instead of that cold and stony feeling.

Was I being locked out or caged in? Either way, the gate separating me from them was opening and a warm draft was flooding in.

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><p><strong>~ .: End Prologue :. ~<strong>

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><p><strong>And that is the start of Shy. I might rename it eventually...I don't know yet.<strong>

**Sorry if it's rushed...I did this in one night...I was bored, I'm on holidays and my laptop is broken so I decided to do this on my ma's comp on the side. =_=**

**Anyway~! You like~? Naru doesn't know much because he was excluded from society so that's why I kinda had to reintroduce things everyone already knows. =/ I will be able to write normally for the next chapter though.**

**It's also written semi-deeply because we all know, no matter how much of an idiot he acts like, he is a very deep kid.**

**Japanese honorifics won't be included in this so Mr. and Miss. will be used instead. Sensei will be used though since teacher is awkward. I really wanted to stay away from sounding weird with the honorifics...  
><strong>

**A/N's are shorter and reviews are nice. Gnight from Australia.**

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><p><strong>(Finished: Friday 15<strong>**th****, July, 2011. Approx: 2.15am  
>Publish Date: Friday 15<strong>**th****, July, 2011.)**

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><p><strong>251/12:** Structural change to all chapters of all stories.****


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